Celfypridd

Absence

…

Present absent lost.

He was here there

but parts were absent

lost on an Italian beach

amid 90 per cent casualties.

…

Locked in a camp

with one water faucet

and 7000 thirsty starving men

waiting for red cross parcels.

…

He never wore

his campaign medals

or marched

up and down

…

Saluting cenotaphs

as old soldiers do

at the parades

each year in town.

…

We lived

with photographs

sealed in a black box

locked under his bed.

…

Photographs taken

of pre-war days

Serpentine deck chairs

of Regents park.

…

Hyde Park

Speakers Corner

on Sundays

and those friends

…

His memories

all gone

now then

and now he’s gone too.

“Absence” First published in “Uncertain Times” ©robcullen

©robcullen fotocredit ©RobCullen

Performing will be Raine Geoghan, Sophie Buchaillard, Mary Kaye, Mike Jenkins, Topher Mills, Mark MC Smith, Nick McGaughey, Pete Akinwunmi & Rob Cullen.

VoicesontheBridge is organised by Rob Cullen.

More Bridges Less Walls

fotocreditrobcullen.

….

A premonition of merciful peace has emerged

In the morning of this day.

And as if in agreement

Your hand opens to the waves.

In a movement of gratitude,

A moment of quiet acceptance.

I have heard you sing

To the waves crests,

Rise, rise from your depths

Rid me of all pain

I am alone wash over me.

…

In this bright early hour

You are at once transformed.

Peace adorns you,

Rests on your face.

I have seen you whisper

To the open sky

Touch me, cleanse me

Rid me of all fear.

I am alone wash over me.

…

Your hair hangs tangled

Stiffly on your eyes,

Green-water droplets

Trickle to your lips.

Your fingers grasp

The waters edge.

The shoreline pierces you,

Welcomes you, calls to you.

I am alone wash over me.

…

And you lying unseen

A curved silken spine

Broken by spite

The savagery of indifference

And the brutality

Of unmourned death

Move without moving.

Knowing nothing, knowing nothing

In your quiet sadness.

I am alone wash over me.

…

I’ve heard you sing

To the waves crests’

Rise from your depths

Rise from your submerged stillness.

I’ve heard you sing

To the open sky,

Touch me, cleanse me,

Rid me of all pain,

Rid me of all fear.

I am alone wash over me.

….

Your mother cries for you in her silence

And mourns for another in her isolation.                        

I am alone wash over me.                                              ©robcullen18^th May 1980.

…

Published 2016 Uncertain Times Rob Cullen’s first poetry collection.

Performing will be Mike Jenkins, Raine Geoghan, Sophie Buchaillard, Topher Mills, Mary Kaye, Mark MC Smith, Nick McGaughey, Pete Akinwunmi & Rob Cullen.

This is a packed event of first rate poets and not to be missed.

VoicesontheBridge is hosted by ClwbyBont & organised by Rob Cullen.

This is a cracker of a lineup & not to be missed!

@LitWales @PoetryWales @RCT

Voices on the Bridge @ClwbyBont Pontypridd

Starts 7.45 pm (doors open 7.30pm)

Its getting closer! VoicesontheBridge is a great night to hear poets, spoken word and song, music too!

Rob Cullen comes from the Rhondda. Rob attended Bristol, Cardiff, Brighton Art Schools, Cardiff University and lived in New York & Brighton. He eventually returned to live and work in South Wales firstly with Barnardo’s, followed by the Probation Service and as a recognised UK Expert in the Family & Criminal Courts. On retiring in 2013 Rob returned to his arts background & writing. Rob’s collection “Uncertain Times” was published in 2016. He’s been published in numerous online magazines and was a writer for Resistance Poetry in the US. Rob’s work has been published in Red Poets, several Culture Matters anthologies, The Atlanta Poetry Review 2020, poet of the month March 2023 in The Seventh Quarry Swansea International Magazine.

Reading and performing with Rob will be – Rachel Carney, Carole Burns, Sion Tomos Owen, Nick McGaughey, Ben Wildsmith, Johnny Giles, Pete Akinwunmi & Rob Cullen.

Voices on the Bridge is hosted by Clwb Y Bont and is a free event!

Voices on the Bridge is organised by Rob Cullen.

…
Starts 7.45 pm (doors open 7.30pm)

Nick McGaughey will be reading his work and bringing with it his very special brand of humour. Nicholas lives in Pontypridd. He has new work in Bad Lilies/Stand/Lucent Dreaming/The Friday Poem and Spelt Magazine.

Nicholas played Brandon Monk in Pobl y Cwm for 10 years and has had his poetry widely published including most recently in the hit anthology A470.

Its getting closer! VoicesontheBridge is a great night to hear poets, spoken word and song, music too!

Reading and performing with Nick will be – Rachel Carney, Carole Burns, Sion Tomos Owen, Ben Wildsmith, Johnny Giles, Pete Akinwunmi & Rob Cullen.

Voices on the Bridge is hosted by @ClwbyBont and is a free event!

Voices on the Bridge is organised by Rob Cullen.

You’re all welcome to share this post helps enormously to get the word out there!

Formed in a storm by the breaking of a limb

a time when wolves roamed

now I lie fallen after five hundred years

my time is taken too, like yours.

Fractured and broken sand stone walls sheep folds

the old names have been deleted a pasting over of history

that endless creep and the landscape has lost a sense of itself

I see hear your name in the old place and you haunt us still.

©robcullen29062017 published The Learned Pig.